The requirement of the
gospel is that, having first given ourselves to Christ, we should then
devote all we have, be it little or much, to His service. The largest
gifts fall infinitely below what He deserves from us; the smallest will
not be rejected by Him. For it is the motive, not the gift, which our
Lord regards. The poor widow’s mite was more acceptable to Him than the
ostentatious and lavish donations of the wealthy. Yet the smallness, the
seeming worthlessness, of our means is often pleaded as an excuse for
withholding them altogether. Because men can do so little, they do
nothing. It was the servant who had received only one talent that
wrapped his lord’s money in a napkin, and buried it in useless,
unprofitable obscurity. When the multitudes hungered in the wilderness,
the disciples hesitated to bring the five barley loaves and two small
fishes, asking, ‘What are they among so many?’ They were taught,
however, to produce their little all, utterly inadequate as it was to
the exigencies of the case, and lay it in the hands of Omnipotent Love,
that He might by His blessing increase it to the feeding of the five
thousand. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and things
which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not, to
bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His
presence!

This great truth is admirably illustrated in the following pages. In the
life of Christie Red fern we may see how the simple desire to serve God,
felt and acted upon by a poor, suffering child, may give an almost
heroic strength of character, and may produce results, the magnitude and
grandeur of which are altogether out of proportion to the feebleness of
the means employed.

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